If you are buying within a specific budget, it pays to shop with your head rather than your heart, especially when buying a used car, where warranty and service plans no longer are effective and the price of replacement car parts could leave you broke.

Considering replacement part costs

The 2007 Kinsey is a great source of useful advice and information when budgeting for your new car. Compiled by motoring researcher Malcolm Kinsey, the report was initiated 17 years ago as a study on selected parts prices.

It is a comprehensive survey of car parts prices as quoted by recognised dealer networks across the country, and it measures the cost of a basket of 32 parts commonly replaced on a car: service parts such as oil filters and spark plugs, repair parts, and crash parts. The outcome of the evaluation then reflects that cost as a percentage of the vehicle’s selling price.

The Kinsey Report tracks the prices of a range of parts for 32 popular car models, to give the public some insight into the comparative costs that can be expected. (For example A category parts are small replacements - like the air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, wiper blades, brake pads etc. Medium, B category replacements are parts like the fan belt, clutch plate, water pump, radiator cap, radiator, thermostat etc and the bigger "accident" or C category replacements are the front/rear bumper skin, bonnet, grille, etc.) For more information on individual parts baskets, go to www.kinsey.valueweb.co.za/

The study goes further than that because each brand usually follows a pattern. For example, if one Ford model is competitive, it is fairly safe to expect that most cars in their range will be likewise.

There are often slow shifts in pricing patterns, one brand may be competitive for a number of years and then the opposition becomes more keenly priced and may take over.

Shop around 

As always, shop around. If a component seems excessively expensive, get a quote from another dealer, or even a third if one is available. It’s not necessarily a case of any particular dealer loading prices, it may well be simply not updating stock prices or even a complete misinterpretation of the part you asked for.
 
In really bad cases (there was one case last year) you may even be quoted on the wrong car! So make it the number one rule – if the price seems out of line, get a second opinion.

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How information is sourced

Parts prices are derived from lists given to the parts staff at various dealerships – all prices were collected in the same month from dealerships in the Durban area, and all are written quotations. Most importantly, these prices represent what a customer would have paid if he/she walked into a dealer and bought those parts.

One could have shopped around and possibly found more or less expensive prices (very few parts departments serving one make have all the same prices,  – either due to older stock, misinterpretation etc.). But this is the only true reflection of what the public is exposed to – a price-list supplied by the manufacturer or importer may be the ideal, but many of these prices do not reach the consumer, at least, not immediately. 

The Kinsey Report never looks at non-branded parts, partly because the quality of these can vary enormously – and with cars still in their warranty period, the use of non-branded components may invalidate this warranty. However, there are some suppliers of very good non-branded which are supported by their own guarantee system. As always, it will remain a case of you get what you pay for – “Buyer Beware”! 

How to calculate a car’s parts basket

 The cars are listed in order of their parts basket percentage, - which is a calculation of the cost of the parts basket divided by the retail selling price of the car. The selling price of the car will affect this figure – a comparatively low retail price will result in a higher percentage figure and a more expensive retail price with the same parts basket cost will result in a lower percentage. However, in 2 out of 4 cases the “winners” had the lowest overall basket price – and the end focal point is the cost of the basket of parts. Categories in the Kinsey Report The cars have again been divided into four categories, which are:

Entry Level  - under R110,000
“B” Segment - R110,000  to  R140,000
“C” Segment - R150,000  to  R180,000
Family Sedan over R200,000

Entry Level (under R110,000)
The 10 cars in this category represent the highest unit sales of any section with over 5,000 units sold each month. The winner, inevitably, is the VW Citi with an incredibly low basket price of R13,183. This is in part due to the fact that the body has remained pretty much the same for 20 years and the public has not had to pay the price of continuous fashion updates. Even with its low R69,850 selling price it returned the lowest percentage at 18.87%.

Ford’s little KA and Opel Corsa Lite  did well in both percentage and basket cost, the KA coming in 2nd and 3rd  respectively and the Corsa Lite 3rd and 2nd,
with basket costs of R20,033 for the Corsa and R20,894 for the KA. On straight servicing costs the Citi Golf and Tata Indica were the best.

“B” Segment (R110,000 - R140,000)
In this segment the percentage winner is the Hyundai Getz 1.6, with 21.94% ( 3rd in the actual parts basket cost). Lowest parts basket cost and second in percentage is the VW Polo 1.4, followed closely by the Chev Aveo 1.5 sedan only 0.5% adrift and 2nd in the cost of its parts basket. Ford Fiesta came in 4th on percentage, with the Peugeot 207 and Seat Ibiza hot on its heels (all in the 24% range). Chev Aveo is best for service and repair parts and the Polo is the least expensive to crash!

“C” Segment (R150,000 - R180,000)
Winner here is the Nissan Tiida in both percentage and parts baskets costs and Ford Focus is runner-up, - both with parts basket costs below R27,500. Thereafter there’s a substantial increase to the 3rd placed car, the VW Golf 1.6, followed by the Honda Civic and the Mazda 3. Opel Astra cost least in service parts, and the Tiida basket is lowest  in crash parts.

Family Sedan (over R200,000)
BMW 320 win here on percentage, ( 4th  best in parts basket cost)  less than 1% ahead of the Audi A4.  The Toyota Avensis is 3rd and has the lowest parts basket cost, boasting the best prices for servicing and crash parts. In this class, the Jaguar is only available in automatic, which makes its repair section appear least expensive since it lacks clutch pressure plate and release bearing prices, but body parts are very expensive, so avoid accidents at all costs!  

Most manufacturers offer service/maintenance plans for new vehicles – ranging from about 60,000km to120,000km for Mercedes. In the Mercedes system the customer pays a contribution towards the servicing costs which increases as the car gets older. The prices of repair and servicing parts are not particularly significant to the car owner until the vehicle leaves the service plan, - but then it becomes vitally important, especially taking into account that he will now have to pay about R400 per hour labour as well!

The prices of crash parts on the other hand, can hit you from day one. Being insured does not cover everything -  repair costs make a difference to the write-off  point as well as the excess you have to pay, and ultimately the crash parts prices will affect your premiums.

A point to note is that some manufacturers apply nett pricing, - like Mercedes and Nissan, - which means the repair garage and panel beater will add their mark-up to all the parts they use. Hyundai and Citroen apply nett pricing to body parts only, and a mark-up of about 25-30% by the panel beater is approved by the insurance industry.